The latest measure from the government’s smarter regulation is set to remove further burdens from sites handling hazardous waste.

This is good news, as the amount of paperwork and time required to protect our country from harm has become increasingly frustrating to many businesses. This small but useful measure removes additional reporting and applications. Full details of the changes can be found at the bottom of this page, but here are the key facts you need to know:

Changes taking effect on 1 April 2016

Producers of hazardous waste in England will no longer need to notify their premises with the Environment Agency

The format of the unique consignment note code which appears on every consignment note will change

Reduced administration

The first point removes the need to complete the five stage application process online (or the longer paper version), and saves between £18 to £28 for applications each year. Hardly ground breaking, but the reduced administration will be the biggest winner with producers. This doesn’t remove the requirement for paperwork accompanying movements of hazardous waste.

Traceability of waste movements

The second point regarding consignment note coding sounds promising because paperwork is important for the traceability of waste movements, and this will put the site in control of the process. However the application may be a little more challenging to ensure a consistent, reliable and robust method is adopted across all shipments and hazardous waste paperwork, which still is required. Businesses must be aware that they should not over simplify these measures to the degree of ’no site licencing or coding required anymore’, which simply isn’t the intention.

Unfortunately, in what feels like a step in the opposite direction, rules over shipments from Wales to England are not covered by the site registrations or consignment note codes changes. Only movements from England to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland are affected.

Understand your requirements

Hazardous waste site licencing until 1 April affects any commercial premises who produce more than 500kg of hazardous waste in any 12 month period. The list of hazardous material can be quite confusing, even with the gov.uk guidance, so speak to one of our waste specialists to ensure your understanding aligns to the relevant waste legislation – simply give our team a call on 0845 094 2226.

Robbie Staniforth

Policy manager

As policy manager, Robbie is responsible for liaising with government, regulators and industry organisations to represent our members’ views and interests. In previous roles, he helped to instigate market-based change and he brings that dynamism to his current role of influencing regulatory change. With years of experience working across a number of departments at Ecosurety, it’s fair to say he has an excellent understanding of producer compliance and recycling, which enables him to provide high-level policy expertise, industry insight and market analysis to our members.